Marking sausage



Aug' 3, 1943- f c. T. WALTER 2,326,082

MARKING SAUSAGE Filed May 5l 1940 2 .i llyz 'LI'.NMMMMMLT. Mimi 4INVENTOR SYM@ ATTORNFY Patented Aug. 3, 1943 Thur 'koi-*rice MARKINGSAUSAGE Charles All. Walter, "liicago, Ill., assgnor'to IndustrialPatents Corporation, Chicago, lll., -a

-corpora'tionof Delaware Application VMayl, 1940, Serial No. 338,284 4claims. (Ci. mais) This invention relates to the manuiactur'e of encasedmeats such assausage, 'and `particularly the marking thereof.

One of the objects of this invention is 'to vpro-- vide an Vimprovedmethod for identification of sausage stuffed in casings prepared fromanimal intestines.' Y

Another object `for' the invention is to provide a sausage with animproved means of identification. l i

Another object of the invention is `to provide an improved method fiorinserting marking strips into unprintedcasings during stuffing thereof.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent fronithe description andclaims which follow;

My `present invent-ion relates to an improvement 'in the marking ofnatural casings with a means of identification. Natural casings are more'porous than artificial casings, and *the porosity permits the sausageproduct to more readily absorb the curing and .flavorin'g componentsofthe treating atmosphere. However, natural'casings are not easilyprinted so 'that brands or other identifyingmarks do not'remain thereon.By means of my present invention I l'am able to retain the superiorflavor resulting from' the use of natural oasings, and also to readilyand easily identify the product contained therein.

It` has previously been suggestedthat sausagel encased in naturalcasings could be identified by the insertion of a branding' 'stripwithin the consumers in that `the printed -strip was in ,the

- `bodyfof the sausageduring eating.

casing and adjacent thereto, as` for example the patents to Freeman,Nos.` 2,169,412 and 2,169,413-, both issued August 15, 1939. In actualpractice on a commercial basis such inventions were not practical- TheVuse of such `marking strips was Yreadily apparent through the casing,

, which detracted 'from the appearance of the finished product. Theappearance of the sausage was marred by the failure of the brandingstrip to bind to the sausage, thereby permitting jth'e formation of airpockets or blisters This failure of the branding rib-bon to bind to thecasing also resulted in shrinking or wrinkling 0f thev sausage. Further,it Wasdiift'cult to secure a material smooth enough to besatisfactorily. printed and strong enough when dampened to withstandhandling during the, stuffing operation.` The greatest objection to theprior suggestion has been that the branding strip tended to becomeseparated from the casing and buried in theY sausage meat. It,therefore, became invisible from the outside and useless as a means ofidentification, in addition to being objectionable to My inventionrelates to a method of branding sausage products `by means of Ia`pre-printed branding ribbon inserted Within thecasing atthe time 'ofstuiiing. Bythecombination of factors hereinafter mentioned, I am ableto avoid the product appears to bear printing on the casing,-

but fis much cheaper to prepare than the'preprinted natural casings.

The invention will bereadily understood by reference to the drawing inwhichsimilar Areference characters 'indicate similar parts of theseveral figures. i

`Figure 1 is a side viewfof a stuffing horn showing the identificationstrip yand casing inplace fer'stuing.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a ribbon of animal intestine containingidentification marks printed thereon.

Figure 3 isza side `'vievv lof a sausage showing the identificationstrip in place.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional viewof a sausage such as is'shovvn'in`Figari-:13.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I insert a ribbon" 'lprepared from animal casing f' and. printed with 'suitableidentification marks into 'the `casing so that the marks are visiblethrough the wall of the casing. I am able to insert the ribbon I insidethe casing without the objectionable results lof the previous art by themetho'd herein described. The ribbon is prepared from anatur'al casing,suchias beef' Weas'ands which are ideal for the purpose of thisinvention because they are `relatively large, `are relatively strong andthin, and are readily printed asdescribed in my prior Patents No.2,119,729, issued June 7,. 1938, and No. 2,054,148, issued September15,1936. Other Vanimal membranes, such as beef middles, or any animalintestines,

` such as hogfintestines, can be used in place of between the rows orcolumns, such as along the lines 4, thereby forming the ribbon I Whichcon-v tains thereon the printed indicia 2, and which is the casing to besubstantially the length of stuifed.

The printed ribbon I is very lightly moistened and laid on a sausagestuffing horn or nozzle 5. Care should be `taken to prevent theidentifying ribbon from becoming Wet, as Wet animal casings are verysoft and pliable, so that the ribbon would be stretched out of shape andthe printing would not be regular in appearance. The ribbon must beslightly damp so as to adhere to the casing. Care should also be takento be certain that the end 6 of the identification ribbon extends acrossthe mouth l of the horn 5, the remainder of the'ribbon being laid alongthe top of the horn. The stuiling horn 5 is similar in construction tothose o-rdinarily used in sausage plants, except that it is much largerin diameter. In the process of my invention it is very important thatthe stung horn be substantially as large as the casing which is to bestuffed With sausage meat. This enables substantially the entireinternal surface of the casing to be directly exposed to theexternalsurface of the stuifing horn, except that portion of theinternal surfarce of said casing Which overlies or is in the zone ofVthe moistened strip, as will 'be apparent from Figure l. The use oftheordinary stuffing horn is unsatisfactory as it permits the identicationribbon to become buried' in the sausage..meat,-

thereby failing to identify the sausage as desired, and also beingobjectionable to the consumer.

The casing 8 is threaded on the horn in the s usual manner so that theclosed end 9 is 'substantially against the mouth 'l of the stuffinghorn. The casing is then stuffed in the usual.

manner by opening the stuifer nozzle valve I0,'as by means of a lever II, thereby permitting'the sausage meat I2 contained in the stuffing`cylinder I3 to flow through the horn 5 into the casing 8. The sausagemeat IZ moving through the horn forces the identication ribbon I firmlyagainst the casing 8, and at the same time forces` the stued sausage oifthe horn 5.

The sausage I4, which comprises the casing.

ing. The casing and the identifying ribbon being of identicaltransluoency, the ribbon as a separate entity is not1readily'visibleinthe finishedsausage.t The fact; that the ribbonand'the casing havesimilar lexpansion characteristics including coeicients of expansion,prevents wrinklingduring curing-and smoking or drying; Also, the

ribbon binds rmly to the casing and is removed from the sausage if thecasing is peeled therefrom.

The use of ordinary papers, parchment, Cellophane and like materials,have proven unsatisfactory for use in preparing the identifying ribbonfor the reasons mentioned heretofore. However, a paper manufactured frombanana fiber such as Musa textz'lz's as disclosed in the patent ofOsborne entitled Porous long ibered nonhydrated paper, No. 2,045,096issued June 23, 1936, makes an acceptable substitute for the casingstrips above described, provided an extremely light Weight, such asseven pounds per ream, or less, is used.' This material binds to thenatural Y, casing, is not visible from outside the sausage,

ing'betweenV the identifying ribbon and the casand in other respectsmakes an acceptable identifying ribbon for sausages encased in naturalcasings.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the detailsabove described, but may comprehend such other processes, arrangementsof details or features as may be consistent with the claims and theprior art.

I claim:

l. The method of producing a marked, cured, stuffed sausage whichcomprises placing a strip or ribbon of animal membrane imprinted withidentifying indicia on a nozzle of a sausage stuifing means, threading anatural casing over the nozzle and strip, stuffing the casing With meatand processingV the stuffed sausage.

2. The method of producing a marked, cured, stuffed sausage whichcomprises placing a strip or ribbon oflight Weight long fibered paperprepared from banana fiber imprinted with identifying indicia on anozzle of av sausage stuffing means, threading a natural casing over thenozzle and strip, stuffing the casing with meat and processing thestuffed sausage.

3. The method of producing a marked sausage encased in animal casingswhich comprises lightly moistening a branding strip or ribbon of animalmembrane imprinted With identifying indicia, placing said moistenedstrip on a stuing horn of a sausage stuffer, inserting an animal casingthereover, and stufng said casing With sausage.

4. The method of producing a marked, cured sausage enclosed in a naturalcasing which comprises plaoing a lightly moistened strip or ribbon onthe outer surface of a nozzle of a sausage stuinng means, the strip orribbon being imprinted With identifying indicia and formed of materialwhich will inherently readily adhere when moistened and bind to thenatural casing andl being constituted such that it becomes invisible asa separate strip or ribbon with respect to the natural casing when thesausage is cured, threading a natural casing over the nozzle and stripWhile maintaining substantially the entire internal, surface of thecasing directly exposed to the external surface of the nozzle exceptthat portion of said internal surface in the zonewhere the strip islocated, stuffing the casing with meat,

and processing the stuffed sausage.

CHARLES T. WALTER.

